Data Breach Spreads Through Dubuque

DUBUQUE, Iowa – As many as 20 credit unions and banks were notifying their members and customers yesterday that personal financial information stolen from a local merchant had been compromised and was being used to make fraudulent transactions. Officials at some of the credit unions were frustrated with Visa and MasterCard, which refused to identify the data breach. "They should be forced to tell us," said Robert Hoefer, president of Dupaco Community CU, who said fraudulent activity was discovered on at least 75 member MasterCard accounts. The $425 million credit union was forced to shut down members’ card transactions out of San Diego because some of the fraud was originating in Wal-Mart stores there, said Hoefer, whose personal card was on the compromised list. Representatives from about a dozen local credit unions and banks met earlier this week to exchange information and plans to stem the potential fraud. Alan Schuester, vice president of DuTrac Community CU, said they have identified as many as 2,000 MasterCard accounts that may be compromised but have not had any fraud reported yet. The credit union is notifying all of the affected members, he told The Credit Union Journal. The group believes the source of the data leak was a local retailer, but doesn’t know which one. Other institutions believed affected are: Dubuque Teachers CU, Alliant CU and Racom Community CU, as well as Fidelity Bank, Premier Bank, American Trust, Dubuque Bank and Trust and Liberty Bank. Hoefer estimated the group would have to reissue at least 100,000 cards.